AI Disrupts Brand Pricing And Loyalty

Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer at Kantar, argues in Branding Strategy Insider that AI is dismantling marketers' longstanding information asymmetries, enabling consumers to bypass brands when prioritizing price, performance, and service. He cites tools like Amazon's Rufus and LLM-driven curation that lower search costs, reveal brand parity, pressure pricing and curation value, and urges brands to sustain value through genuine product innovation or face commoditization.